Oil slips below $116, Syria uncertainty dominates

By Ron Bousso

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil eased below $116 a barrel on Monday with investors focused on Syria after Russia and China again urged the United States to avoid military action ahead of a key vote by the U.S. senate.

The global Brent crude benchmark fell 67 cents to $115.45 by 0950 GMT but has gained more than 1.5 percent in September, while U.S. oil lost 45 cents to $110.08.

President Barack Obama faces an uphill task to persuade Senate lawmakers to approve on Wednesday military strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Russia and Syria urged Washington against military action on Monday, while China called for U.S. caution and a return to the United Nations to discuss Syria.

Obama will give a televised address to the nation on Tuesday, making the case for intervention.

"If they (Senate) vote against intervention oil prices will fall in the near term. If they vote for intervention they will take another leg up and there will be talk of a Strategic Reserve release or even of an immediate release by the U.S. only in an attempt to discourage any knee jerk price rise," PVM analyst David Hufton said.

"If the vote is for intervention Brent will be the contract to be in, not WTI," he said, referring to the U.S. crude contract, known as Western Texas Intermediate.

Markets were also supported by data which showed China's broad exports rose more than expected in August, boosted by improving demand for the country's goods in major markets and adding to evidence that the world's second-largest economy may have avoided a sharp slowdown.

Rising equities broadly signal economic improvement, which would mean higher oil consumption.

Geopolitical risks were kept elevated on Monday at a time when markets were already coping with a loss of additional supplies from Libya.

"We're still missing crude oil out of Libya and that continues to pressure supplies," said Olivier Jakobs, analyst at Petromatrix.

The market also came under some pressure after crude oil imports by China, the world's largest buyer after the United States, hit a six-month low in August and were down 17.9 percent from July, trade data showed on Sunday, due to overhauls at several major refineries.

But imports in August were still up 16.5 percent from a year ago, taking total shipments in the first eight months of the year to 185.61 million tonnes, up 2.9 percent.

Oil investors are also watching for any firm signs on whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin to scale back its massive stimulus programme next week, sources said.

(Additional reporting by Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo; editing by James Jukwey)